The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, has described infrastructure as the foundation for national prosperity and unity saying it is the most dependable fortress against tomorrow’s bad weather, bringing people together and laying the foundation for job creation, economic growth and agricultural development among others.

Fashola made this known this while on an inspection of infrastructural project sites, saying that by investing in infrastructure renewal, President Buhari was creating wealth and securing the future of Nigeria as well as building a solid foundation for employment and for prosperity.

The Minister reiterated that infrastructure is the foundation of unity, “It is an unfailing foundation. It is the most dependable fortress against tomorrow’s bad weather, tomorrow’s oil prices going back and forth. Once you invest in what President Buhari is doing, that is what creates wealth, that is what secures the future, that is the foundation for wealth, for employment, for prosperity, infrastructure is the basis for national unity.”

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) rolled out 116,659.8 megawatts in November due to increase in electricity generation. The daily statistics of TCN operations obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO), a section of the TCN, indicated that 116,659.8 mw was generated from Nov. 2 to Nov. 30.This was against the 107, 864.8 megawatts generated in October. The statistics indicated that power generation increased by 8,795 megawatts between October and November periods.

The energy generated was transmitted to 11 distribution companies (Discos). TCN said the national peak demand forecast stood at 19,100.00mw, while the installed available capacity was 11,165.40mw.The current transmission capacity and network operational capacity were 7,000mw and 5,500.00mw respectively

This week on this segment, focus is on the fifth “Action Steps towards PSRP Intervention Implementation”. Which is ‘Clear historic MDA debts and automate future payments: This seeks to ensure MDA historical debts are paid and implement a payment mechanism for future electricity bills.

The Action steps towards implementation include:

(a) Historical debts of MDAs is cleared.

(b) Government issues a directive specifying the mechanism to ensure timely payment of electricity bills by all MDAs and its Implementation timetable.

(c) Implantation of Government directive to ensure regular payment for power consumed and encourage energy efficiency at all MDAs.

(d) On a monthly basis, DisCos inform NERC about any late or non – payment by each customer that is an MDA, and the accumulated debt.

(e) NERC informs the Government, and reports in its website progress in payment by MDAs and in implementation of the mechanism in the directive.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, Wednesday reiterated Federal Government’s commitment to enhancing the distribution segment of the Power value chain saying the approval of a N72 Billion Distribution Expansion Programme by the government was a clear demonstration of that commitment.

Speaking at the December 2018 Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja, Fashola said Government, as a 40 per cent shareholder, had to make the approval in order to enhance the distribution of power across the country, pointing out that although operationally there is 7,000 Megawatts of electricity ready for deployment, the operation was still constrained at the distribution end.

Reiterating the concern of government towards correcting the anomaly, the Minister, explained that the decision to intervene was done after asking the DisCos where they would want to spend their money within their franchise, if they have it, that could evacuate “some of the power that is available and that can yield a maximum collection report” adding that it was with that data that Government put the amount together that it would inject into the Distribution sector.

The Minister, who quoted the 3rd Quarter Report of the National Bureau of Statistics as revealing that Electricity made the highest contribution of 18 per cent to the 1.8 per cent growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recalled the “Thank You” visit of the Gora Community of Nasarawa State to his office early in the week to express their gratitude to the Federal Government over the provision of Solar Power to their Community saying it was a testimony to the growth in electricity supply and increasing accessibility to the rural communities.

The Community delegation, led by its Traditional Head, Alhaji Jafaru Adamu, thanked the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating the rural electrification programme and the Minister for driving it adding that since the installation of the Solar electricity, the Community has consistently enjoyed several benefits hitherto not known to them, especially in the areas of social life, Education and Health

The Federal Government would no longer accept excuses from Electricity Distribution Companies (Dis Cos) for failure to distribute power to consumers.

Minister of State I for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, gave the warning on Monday during an inspection of a 132 KVA Transmission Substation in Uyo, while expressing dissatisfaction over the inability of DisCos to distribute available power to consumers.

According to him, “Their excuses of not taking power from transmission stations will no longer be acceptable. They are expected to abide by the electricity sector road map from the day they took over the distribution network,” He said that the Federal Government had succeeded in improving power generation and transmission but lamented that distribution was the weak link in the value chain. “Generation capacity has improved, transmission has improved but the distribution companies are not taking power from the transmission company.”

The Minister said that the Federal Government had come up with a lot of policies to strengthen power distribution in the country, stressing that the essence of privatization was to strengthen the system, and that investors were expected to use their money to provide transformers and other facilities to strengthen the network. “It is either they sit up or they pave way for more competent investors to take over,” he added.

“They are expected to enumerate and meter all their consumers as well as strengthen the network by providing transformers and other facilities. “Government is still intervening in the distribution system and that is why we initiated the Eligible Costumers Regulatory Policy to allow consumers to take power directly from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Solomon Uyouko, General Manager, Port Harcourt Region of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, said the Uyo substation has capacity to deliver 144 megawatt of electricity. He added that the substation had enough power to serve Uyo and its environs but noted that the challenge was that the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company was not picking the load. “If power is being distributed as expected, we will be having nothing less than 20 hours of supply to Uyo and environs daily,” he said.

The Management of National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has commenced the training of eighty Staff of Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) at the Kainji Regional Training Centre, Niger State.

In his Goodwill message to the trainees, the Ag. Director General of NAPTIN, Ahmed Bolaji Nagode, congratulated them for having this opportunity of taking part in the programme, while advising them to make the best use of it by working towards improving services in their organization.

He commended West African Power Pool and Liberia Electricity Corporation for this gesture, thanking them for their confidence in NAPTIN as well as the efforts and cooperation put in for the takeoff of these series of trainings.

He assured them of NAPTIN'S continuous service delivery as a Centre of Excellence (CoE), adding that at the end of their stay they will realize the course objective by going back home as better and more effective and efficient industry players. Pointing out that NAPTIN had earlier trained 36 staff of LEC, Nagode stated that this recent training is an attestation to the fact that the West African Power Pool (WAPO) and Liberia Electricity Corporation are satisfied with NAPTIN'S high level of training and service delivery

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has challenged Distribution Companies (DisCos) to provide electricity consumers with adequate meters in order to address power supply challenges in the country, saying that Nigeria’s transmission capacity currently stands at 8,100 megawatts although only about 5,000 megawatts can be taken up by the DisCos.

Managing Director of TCN, Usman Gur Mohammed, while briefing journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the arbitrary electricity bill charged consumers in the country was not proper to encourage prompt and consistent payment.

He noted that the excuse of consumers being too poor to afford electricity tariffs does not really hold water, as this can be confirmed if they are provided with meters to save them from the widespread arbitrariness of estimated billing.

He described the argument of inadequate power supply as being responsible for failure to pay bills as a ‘chicken and egg’ dilemma, which can be resolved by allowing the electricity consumer pay for only what is consumed, pointing out that Nigerian consumers were ready to pay their electricity bills if only they were sure they are being billed appropriately.

He assured electricity consumers that the TCN would continue to expand its capacity while the DisCos strive to expand theirs, all geared towards ensuring improved power supply in the country.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Chiedu Ugbo, has said there is a need to have active programmes for equipment and operational safety management to increase awareness on process and plant safety as a means of identifying potential safety hazards, assessing potential consequences, and for the analysis of the risk control measures required to reduce risks.

He stated this while delivering a paper titled “Systemic Network and Equipment Design and Adherence to Minimum Safety Standards in Power Project Execution”, at the 2018 Power Safety Summit, held recently in Abuja.

According to him, ‘there is need for enforcement of technical standards across the power industry and active involvement of top management in safety issues in Nigeria’, stressing the need to enhance current NERC & NEMSA regulations to make them more effective and increased oversight function of the regulators is very critical to assure compliance. ‘So, we must insist on doing things the way it should be done, by doing that, we avert all the risks that are involved in the power sector, ’he added.

Citizenship participation in matters of safety and safety discourse is imperative and efforts are being made to secure the buy - in of the citizenry who most not only be sensitized but must be made to own the lofty ideals and goals encapsulated in the business of safety as inherent in the 2018 National Power Safety Summit.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has signed a $170 million (about N62 billion) contract to build four transmission substations in Abuja under the Abuja Transmission Project being financed by Agence Française de Development (AFD).

The Managing Director, Usman Gur Mohammed, who disclosed this at a briefing last weekend in Abuja, said “when we signed the contract, each of them said they could deliver in 18 months. If we complete this project, Abuja will have stable electricity.

Mohammed said TCN also saved $25 million (about N9.1bn) during the procurement process by using global best practice and engaging world class Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors like General Electric (GE). He said the $25m will be used to build a 330KV transmission substation in Bauchi.

General Electric will handle the 330KV substation in Lugbe and Apo under the Abuja Transmission Project and was ready to commence work on the identified site immediately the contracts were signed last Friday. Mohammed said the project will boost all-round electricity supply in Abuja, the nation’s capital, when completed within the 18 months project delivery timeline that the contractors have given.

To stabilise electricity transmission frequency, Mohammed said TCN awaits approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to award procurement contract to the successful Generation Companies (GenCos) to deliver 260 megawatts (MW) spinning reserve. He said, “two weeks ago, we commenced the implementation for us to move from 49.5 and 50.5 Hertz (Hz) to 49.75 and 50.25Hz which is the NERC standard. Since two weeks, the frequency is more stable than in the past.

“Today we signed letters for GenCos who are not on frequency control (free governor) to comply. It is the last ultimatum, otherwise we are going to remove them from the grid.” Mohammed urged DisCos to invest in injection substations and their networks to take the available transmitted power.

Our focus this week on the Power Sector Recovery Programme is on the third “Action Steps towards PSRP Intervention Implementation”. Which is, clear historical deficits due to tariff shortfall: Clearing historical accumulated sector revenue deficits (2015 to 2016) as part of the Financing Plan.

The Action steps towards implementation include:

* Secure funding for historic debt and future revenue shortfalls until tariff are appropriate and sustainable.

* Secure funding to address system constraints such as transmission /distribution interface bottlenecks

* The PSRP Implementation Monitoring Team (PSRP IMT) reviews and updates the Financing plan on a quarterly basis, with the support of the multi – agency financing working team.

FASHOLA SENATOR ABARIBE OTHERS AT THE GUARDIAN POWER SUMMIT 2017 IN LAGOS

Hon Minister of Power Works HousingMr Babatunde FasholaSAN middle Chairman Senate Committee on PowerSenator Enyinnaya Abariberight and Chairman Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspapers Professor Wale Omole left during The Guardian Power Summit 2017 with the theme Beyond Rhetoric Turning Nigerias Power Sector Value Chain Potentials to Profitat the Four Points By Sheraton Victoria Island Lagos on Monday 14th September 2017